My charger restoration dream car

[showard]

After many years of looking and saving I finaly found and bought the car that I have always wanted, a 1968 Dodge Charger. :hello2: I have owned it for 7 years and have slowly been working on restoring it. After seeing how much work is involved in restoring I have had many ask me why I don't just buy one already restored. It is the restoration process that I am fastinated with. I love to build and restore things. I have never done this before so I am learning as I go. I have been loving it. I have often looked on the internet for help and have found this site and the members very helpful.
I will be posting some of my processes that will hopefully help others and I plan on getting advice from anyone I can.

The car that I am restoring has sat without a windshield for over 20 years. Because of that it had some rust and cancer in the interior. I will start by posting some of the parts that I have been cleaning and refinishing.

Here are my front bucket seats and some of the things that I had to do.


After removing all of the upholstery I dismantled it and sandblasted it in my cabinet blaster. My seat frame was broken and split so I had to straighten it and weld it back together.

I will add some more tomorrow.

 

[roadrunnerman]

good luck on your build. when you get a chance, you should put up a couple pictures of the car as it sits.

 

[Photon440]

Looks like you're doing things properly. I still have to make my blast cabinet, I've been using molasses for most of the rust.

roadrunnerman, here's a picture of his Charger:http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/showthread.php?77750-New-member-from-Utah

 

[747mopar]

Come on you can't start a 68 Charger restoration thread and only post a pic of a seat. More pics please.

 

[Cranky]

Photon mentioned that a pic was posted of it in the Welcome Wagon http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparf...mber-from-Utah .....but yeah, needs some here now.

 

[showard]

Come on you can't start a 68 Charger restoration thread and only post a pic of a seat. More pics please.

You'r right.
I will get some pictures tomorrow.

 

[Coledavis01]

Looking forward to seeing the progress! I lurked for a long time before started posting any of my own, it's really helped me on both tips on how to do things right the first time as well as motivation to keep on keeping on.

 

[showard]

On the previous pictures the lower plastic headrest guides were broken. I found I can buy new ones but they are expensive. I used a drilled piece of sheet metal to support the bracket.

 

[showard]

I have been working on the seats right now so that is what was on my mind. Here are a couple pictures of my car and the progress that it is making.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Nice project !!!! I've always liked the 68 -70 Chargers. Keep the pictures coming !!!!!

 

[Durandal25]

...that beast is looking great already!

 

[Coledavis01]

Going to be cool! Really like the barn picture with the mountains in the background, very rustic!

 

[showard]

Going to be cool! Really like the barn picture with the mountains in the background, very rustic!

Thank you, I love the area where I live.

 

[showard]

The driver side seat was in rough shape. The rear of the lower seat was rusted, the side rail was cracked and the outside spring was broken.


After sand blasting, cleaning it, and welding it Ibuilt some reinforcement for the back of the seat. For the broken spring I used a piece of spring from a doner seat and splinted the spring.



- - - Updated - - -

To sand blast and paint the springs I used a hack saw frame to stretch it.

I cleaned the old grease and dirt out of the sliding rail barings with a solvent and re greased them for smooth sliding then I repainted all of the parts.
My front bucket seats are ready for upholstry now.

Next I need to work on the bent rear seats.

 

[Photon440]

Good work! If you had wanted, or if anyone else needs, doing a search for 'sinuous spring' will get you sources of new wavy springs, commonly used in chairs and upholstery work.
http://www.germes-online.com/catalog/17/742/page3/spring.html

 

[showard]

Good work! If you had wanted, or if anyone else needs, doing a search for 'sinuous spring' will get you sources of new wavy springs, commonly used in chairs and upholstery work.
http://www.germes-online.com/catalog/17/742/page3/spring.html

Thank you for that site. I looked it up and I might still replace a couple springs in my seat. I often spend the time to repair something and then later I decide to totally redue things.

 

[showard]

This summer I spent a lot of time disassembling, taking pictures, storing, and logging all of the parts. I would lable or point to each part and take a picture of it. I would then bag the parts with a lable and a black & white print of the picture where the part was taken from. I know that when I start reassembling this car I will not remember where things go.
Here are a few of the pictures that I have taken.

This is the car's interior before taking it appart.

I made note of all the thisng that would need to be fixed. This is a split in the sheet metal on the drivers side.

 

[TekHousE]

Nice..My dream car too..I will be watching this thread!

 

[showard]

Here is the driver side window support. As you can see, I will need all new bushings and I need to do a lot of cleaning.

 

[67440chrg]

Good project keep up the good work.